You know how much I love indie bookstores — so what a delight to have AWAKE included on the October 2025 Indie Next List and celebrated by independent booksellers across the country.
Here are some of their words that nearly brought me to tears:
“…a balm for my ex-evangelical heart. Awake is a story about starting over — navigating grief, building something new, discovering who you really are.” —Kendra Gayle Lee, Bookish Atlanta
“I’ve long admired Jen Hatmaker’s courageous stand against racism, sexism, and homophobia — despite her evangelical upbringing and at great cost to her very public career in church leadership — and I’ve long wondered, nosily, about the end of her seemingly happy marriage. AWAKE confirmed my respect for her, satisfied my prurient curiosity, and — most importantly — moved me deeply. It also taught me much: about how to grieve, how to mother, how to persevere, and how to show up for the people we love when they need us the most. ” —Emilie Sommer, East City Bookshop, Washington D.C.
“I really love a good memoir, but WOW — Jen Hatmaker has given readers a gift with AWAKE. This beautiful sharing of Jen’s truth is a little Christie Tate’s Group mixed with Maggie Smith’s You Could Make This Place Beautiful, and a bit of Glennon Doyle added to the mix. AWAKE is the story of a woman who, after an absolutely devastating blow, claws her way out of the abyss and is reforged by the fires into someone fierce who learns that her strength was always there, it just needed to be cultivated and nurtured.” —Mary OMalley, Skylark Bookshop, Columbia, MO
“Jen Hatmaker’s book is for everyone, but particularly for any woman that has been made to feel ‘less than’. It’s a reclaiming of power over our own lives, our own destinies, our own families and our own best (and worst) self. She is vulnerable and powerful, insightful and fragile, hilarious and heart-wrenching. I found myself underlining so many things and dog-earing so many pages that it was a bit of a tattered mess by the end. But a tattered mess in the best possible way!” —Susan Kehoe, Browseabout Books, Rehoboth Beach, DE
You can see the full Indie Next preview here and order your copy of AWAKE: A Memoir here.